What's the most fun day you had in Sims 4.

I got the cute Chinese family I also gave them a big beautiful home.

I tend to get the opposite a lot in my game. Its to the point in one of my saves where I almost have to lock the doors to the toddler's room from the parents just so the poor little guys can get some time away from them because mom and dad were always fussing, feeding, bathing and putting to bed.

Example: I had one mom sim that would cancel every single action I gave her to go check on the toddler. It was so frustrating because her bladder bar was red, her hunger bar was red, her sleep bar was bright orange and I was afraid she was going to die of starvation before she would eat. The toddler's needs were all in the green because mamma just kept going to care for her, but at the expense of her own health. I get that in the real world, we tend to do this... skip meals and rest to make sure our children are well cared for, but in real life we're more resilient than sims. We can survive skipping meals and sleep. They...just die. I very nearly cheated her needs with the 'make happy' cheat because I was getting very nervous that grim would visit and leave her little toddler motherless. (the father was already dead. He got struck by lightning. :\ He had the 'storm chaser' trait and wouldn't keep his butt in the house during the storm.

So, the only thing I can think is how cold hearted/caring they are depends majorly on which traits and hidden traits they have.

My sims always take care of the toddlers first even without me controlling, it's so bad that I will lock toddlers into a room by themselves just so they can have some alone time.

Honestly I think you might just have gotten unlucky, usually in my games the parents do take care of toddlers without me controlling them to do so

I agree with OP. My biggest problem with toddlers is that I feel the gameplay revolved around them is incredibly poorly adjusted. Everything is off balance when there is a toddler in the house...unless, I take full control.

First off, the parents play a game of hit and miss every time when it comes to helping their small child with a need. Second, the parents are obsessed with feeding the toddler regardless of the problem. Sad? Here's food. Dirty diaper? Here's food. Need attention? Here's food. And not just any food, right? No, it has to be chips and crackers which send the child's blood sugar sky rocketing. And so then we go again: Lather-rinse-repeat.

Moreover, if the parents (and I) aren't in toddler worship mode 24/7, we get threats from the game and the finger of neglect is being pointed at us just because the child has to wait a friggin' moment for that attention, because I can't/won't drop everything instantly to make the parents take care of it.

Well, that was my two cents. Sorry about the negative outburst. But I know exactly what I like and don't like in this game :)

I don't think anyone programmed parents to ignore toddlers' cries or take their food. They did program thunderstorms to be optional, so if they cause stressful situations for you, you may consider turning them off. Or giving parents the Carefree trait so they don't automatically freak out and run indoors. Also, thinking a kid is following and suddenly realizing they're not does unfortunately does happen to parents in the real world. In real life, parents notice within a few seconds and react, but the Sims aren't programmed to always keep their toddlers in sight. Nor should they be, in my opinion. The toddler stage is supposed to roughly represent ages 18 months to 6 years. A preschooler does not need eyes on them every second. Plus, the Sims removes certain real world dangers. Sim toddlers live in a world where they will never get kidnapped or hit by a car or attacked by a dog. Ergo, adult Sims have no issue with them wandering outside by the road. All the toddlers automatically stay near enough to home and can't interact with anything potentially harmful. Until Seasons was released, there wasn't even anything outside that could really bother them.

If you think the parents should be programmed to be more watchful of their kids in bad weather or that there should be an option for "cook a meal for toddler" that prevents any other Sim from taking the food, you should absolutely suggest it. But in the meantime, you can also just make bigger meal portions or store food in the toddler's inventory. Harvestables like strawberries and bananas don't go bad and make a great toddler snack when they're waiting for a meal.

Hope this helps!

"katrinasforest;c-16947178" wrote:
I don't think anyone programmed parents to ignore toddlers' cries or take their food. They did program thunderstorms to be optional, so if they cause stressful situations for you, you may consider turning them off. Or giving parents the Carefree trait so they don't automatically freak out and run indoors. Also, thinking a kid is following and suddenly realizing they're not does unfortunately does happen to parents in the real world. In real life, parents notice within a few seconds and react, but the Sims aren't programmed to always keep their toddlers in sight. Nor should they be, in my opinion. The toddler stage is supposed to roughly represent ages 18 months to 6 years. A preschooler does not need eyes on them every second. Plus, the Sims removes certain real world dangers. Sim toddlers live in a world where they will never get kidnapped or hit by a car or attacked by a dog. Ergo, adult Sims have no issue with them wandering outside by the road. All the toddlers automatically stay near enough to home and can't interact with anything potentially harmful. Until Seasons was released, there wasn't even anything outside that could really bother them.

If you think the parents should be programmed to be more watchful of their kids in bad weather or that there should be an option for "cook a meal for toddler" that prevents any other Sim from taking the food, you should absolutely suggest it. But in the meantime, you can also just make bigger meal portions or store food in the toddler's inventory. Harvestables like strawberries and bananas don't go bad and make a great toddler snack when they're waiting for a meal.

Hope this helps!

I always keep some harvestables in every Sim's inventory for a quick hunger fix, and it's especially useful for toddlers - they often wake up needing both potty and food, and if you feed them a meal, it's going to be too late for the potty.

Storms are a missed opportunity in the programming - parents do grab their toddlers in a fire and should do the same when 'running inside'. Quite often, there's a collision of people trying to care for the toddler, but they somehow manage to sort it out in a fire. (I get a bit annoyed with the 'run inside' action - if my Sim has enough wellness to teleport, I want her to teleport into the house, not run through the storm. I can cancel the 'run inside', but it reappears.) I've never been in a situation in which my Sims were out-of-doors with their toddlers when a storm started, but I can see the problem - you have to get them to grab the toddler and then go inside, and in between, you've got that 'run inside' popping up. In a fire, 'grab toddler and run outside' overrides 'stand in front of fire and panic'.

(Now, I'm wondering what would win in a fire during a thunderstorm.)

When you love a game like I do Sims its fun just to think of the good times.

I like applesauce. (Especially with latkes--yummy!) And I'll totally grab animal crackers when I'm having a sweet craving. :)

I like your idea for a parent to grab a toddler in a storm the same way they would in a fire. You should definitely suggest that.

I thought "Call to Meal" basically did what you're suggesting--the Sim makes a meal with four or eight servings, and then once they're called, everyone in the family comes and takes a serving. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean?

@Nindigo, I'm with you on the toddlers. The game sometimes feels too close to reality there. Toddlers do not understand "wait," and they have this magical way of making you feel like a terrible parent for not dropping everything you're doing to attend to them. (Even when the thing you're doing is making them dinner!) This is why I have no interest in the Parenthood game pack. Though I totally get that other players love the challenge of realistic game play. To each their own. :)

I tend to have the opposite experience. I generally make my toddlers very independent, perhaps because I run into bugs so often when I don't (example: high chairs, going up and down the stairs to pick a child up even though there's space upstairs). I see the parents doing the watch toddler and check toddler interactions fairly often, and I have to cancel them before the highchair nonsense starts (I keep them around for aesthetics but maybe I should delete them all).

I will agree though that in the middle of a bad storm, it's incredibly sad and annoying when all Sims run inside but don't do anything about toddlers, and this should be fixed. Also when it's very cold/hot out parents should check toddlers, making sure they're dressed warmly enough or giving them sippy cups if it's hot.

Overall, I find in my gameplay that toddlers actually get the most attention out of all the child life stages. Parents never wake to a baby's cry, and basically ignore kids and teens altogether unless they happen to end up in the same room or need to chat to someone while eating. I like the kids and teens to be a bit more on their own, but automatic things like waving when they went to school or hugs when the parents get home I miss. And I could go on for ages about all my problems with TS4 babies.